POSITIVE SchNEWS In the seemingly gloomy soil of Argentina, something
positive is taking root. In this country, where over 6 million people now
live below the poverty line and 20 percent of children suffer from
malnutrition, people are re-taking control of their lives. Since the
financial crisis last December, when Argentineans saw most of their savings
wiped out, disillusionment with the corrupt state and greedy capitalism has
led to the creation of neighbourhood assemblies and worker-controlled
factories. Communities meet weekly in 'asambleas' to decide on what is
vitally necessary for the community and then communicate their needs to one
of the 100 worker-controlled factories. Grissinopoli, a bread stick
factory, is one example. When it was still under capitalist control,
workers saw their weekly salary decline from 150 to 40 pesos in under a
year. Finally in June their generous boss offered the workers 10 pesos (2
quid) and encouraged them to get lost. Fed up, they began a battle for
their jobs. They took turns guarding the closed factory, making sure no
equipment was removed, until the city council expropriated the factory and
handed it over to the workers in October. Now the bread sticks are rolling
out again. Grissinopoli is just one factory amongst dozens of others that
have seen workers taking control. Such factories are self-managed by
workers' councils which means each worker has an equal say in how the
factory should be run. Of course it's not easy work, as many workers in
such factories are working longer hours as they balance labouring with
admin tasks. But they're in control and because of this wages and
productivity have risen in many factories. With 17 factory expropriations
in the Buenos Aires province in the past two years, capitalist forces have
put pressure on the local government. Because of this, state repression is
increasing, and just last March riot police attempted to 'reclaim' the
worker-run Brukman factory but were chased off by hundreds of irate
community members. www.ainfos.ca *Days of civil disobedience are planned
for the 20th and 21st of December in solidarity with the Argentinian
people's social rebellion. www.ainfos.ca www.uk.indymedia.org
...and finally... Two people on a demo in Germany got whacked on the head
by police recently. Er, not exactly major news, except the two injured
people were actually undercover cops! The two had been monitoring a rally
of 3000 people protesting against the demolition of a trailer site in
Hamburg called 'Bambule' (an old fashioned German word for riot!) when
violence broke out. Apparently, the undercover coppers tend to communicate
their real identity to the riot police by using a secret code word - but in
the chaos, no one took notice of this and the plainclothes ended up
experiencing the blunt end of the justice system just like everyone else!
The local police say that the incident is in no way "evidence of more
widespread aggression within the police force", but the undercover police
officers are still taking legal action over their injuries. But SchNEWS
reckons that since riot police NEVER harm peaceful protesters, it only
follows that the undercover cops must have been violent anarchist thugs who
were really asking for it!
MORE ON...
http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos14678.html
